Science Fiction Notes
Science Fiction and the New Dark
Ages by Harold L. Berger Bowling Green UP, 1976.
In
the 1970s, "Space Opera" is
no longer popular, but the public
still thinks that characterizes SF (think Star Trek original). In the 70s, the threat of technology
and the endangered earth are the major themes.
SF operates as social criticism,
satire, and philosophy. It is
anti-Utopian.
SF
is "a syndrome, the multiple
symptoms of a world disease…the tendency of science and social progress…to
cause more problems than it solves and …[to] turn solutions into problems.
Ch. 1 "The Threat of Science"
A. Hostility to Science (Dystopian
Fiction) (3) occurs from 1955 on with "midcentury pessimism" (4). Think the atom bomb, cold war, arms races.
Aldous
Huxley, seeing the same
problems with science and technology as other writers and critics "takes a
passionately moral stand" (7). He
condemns scientists for "moral indifference" in their creation of WMDs.
(7). [I Recall Einstein's and Oppenheimer's
eventual horror Hiroshima and Nagasaki.]
Most SF did not condemn science or technology but the inhumanity of
their goals (8).
CS
Lewis's SF trilogy sees the devil as using science (9). Berger considers Lewis not to be a
medieval throwback but an enlightened humanist building on Christian theology
(11). Although religion, science,
and individuals all want power, science has a goal of only knowledge and so is
least able to resist converting it into power (11). [Recall Faustus]
Lewis seems prescient: he
envisions men planet-hopping as they destroy earth and then alien
cultures. [Recall Hawking on the
destruction of earth [as today's reality] encouraging us to prepare the moon
and Mars for human habitation.
Lewis writes with the theme that humans "must live by values whose
subjectivity places them beyond proving" (13). Lewis can be read as a dystopian writer in general who
considers the limits of human power merciful since its worthwhile employment is
in so little evidence (16).
ΚΚΚB. Man vs. Machine
(Pohl) The machine as a source of anxiety and
discord. Earlier views saw it as
sapping human strength.
*
Frederick Pohl's work is a "Major
paradigm of dystopian fiction: a
condition that in utopian fantasy brings happiness is distorted and brings
misery" (19). Berger believes that
the real problem of the age is that craftsmanship is now devalued and the
self-worth it generated is gone. Also, to use excess goods, high-pressured
sales approaches are needed. (20)
[A Marxist reading]
Robert Sheckley's response to human decadence is to fuse "criminal vitality with the earth's technology and stability" –a
"welcome
prospect to awaken human action"(31).
A counterpoint to this is when technology is devised to restrain humans
from suicide prompted by technology (32).
*Philip
L. Dick also writes about
people as unfit custodians of technology, but yet they "may survive under its
protective custody" ( 34). [Worse case scenarios: the AI in Matrix III restores order,
peace, and beauty.]
ΚΚΚC. The Synthetic experience
"obliterated
or diminished awareness of the self and the significance of experience by
needless
complication or mechanism, which excludes the slef from reality and full
participation in its own life" (38)
Society is controlled by those who want to divorce it from reality.
(39) Huxley and Bradbury deal with
these themes.
*SF usually sees synthetic
experience as dehumanizing but some like Silverberg, avoid judgment (41). Dick also does this. Both see humans as "naturally addicted
to [escape]" (42). Pohl also. If humans could escape into euphoria,
they would let everything go to rot. (42). He implies we lack the will for authentic lives: partly because of anxiety. (42)
ΚΚΚD. Ignoble Utopias
BF Skinner's Walden
II attacked by
critics and by Berger for naivete.
Skinner's child characters are behaviourly modified to live as perfect
humans. (52). It is "based on…mechanistic
philosophies" including that of Hobbes and "conditioned-reflex experiments of
Pavlov" (54).
Some
anti-utopians see human
frailty as the foundation for "a nobler humanity" (64). Perfect virtue is problematic
(65). Some writers see man's
proneness to sin as God's gift: an
antidote to Τself-robotization'" (69).
[Think Clockwork Orange].
*Lafferty
creates a dystopian "perfect world" (74). Millios
flee
the "perfect city' to voluntarily go to a hellish city. They want to be dead rather than
conformed [spiritually dead] (75).
In these utopias there is
stagnaion, negation, and death" (77).
Utopias can only be attained by diminishing humanity which cannot exist
as a utopia (82).
ΚΚΚΚΚΚΚΚΚΚΚII. The New
Tyrannies
ΚΚΚΚΚΚΚΚΚΚΚΚΚΚΚA. The
Totalitarian State of the Future
Despotism: rule by the elite for their own benefit
but which historically transforms to benevolence and then to public service
(86).
Totalitarianism: System that attempts to change law to
laws of history and nature where teh human is the embodiment of those
laws. Here terror is continuous as
new victims are continuously found (87).
The ideal subjects of totalitarian govs are those who no longer
distinguish fact from fiction and true from false [think 1984 or the votes this
morning re. the War in Iraq and the Bush gov.]
Orwell's
book is probably not concerned with the existence of human nature but still
posits that certain things should not be done to humans (89). For Orwell the
following are values: feeling and
personal love and loyalty; physical pleasure; the past; language; axiomatic
truth (90-91).
Forced
conformity as the ultimate weapon of totalitarianism (94).In great totalitarian
SF freedom and happiness are incompatible. Technology stresses our value system9s) and people surrender
freedom for …happiness(?) (102)
ΚΚΚΚΚΚΚΚΚΚΚΚΚΚΚB. The Mind
Invasions
New
technologies (truth drugs, computer memory banks, psych testing, subliminal
ads, …) make the possibility of having our minds possessed a real threat
(103). Robert Sheckley uses "mental
denudation: as a theme in some of his stories (103). Today there is a big interest in ESP
(104). Psionic sties may be
response to the sense of more and more loss of privacy (104).
*Dick
and Silverberg have dystopias that are a "peeper's heaven" (104). Dick has war and telepaths and
precogs. No more privacy for one's
mind. Silverberg's very rich
resuscitated share minds of living hosts and hosts collect personas. (104). Piers Anthony and Robert Margriff
create "Ultra Conscience" imprinted onto social outcasts plus a ring
that
shocks them when they violate the conscience (107). Heinlein adds an alien mind control to the mix. His is an allegory of "modern anxiety
regarding the preservation of freedom" (108).
Siverberg's Passengers also has mind-invading
aliens. Possession in this story "
has become a condition of life, like the common cold" (109). It demands the reader examine what s/he
tolerates.
Heinlein's They (1941) "taps into the universal
paranoia…that…what we call reality…is a hoax and that each of us is alone sharing
…life with a race of deceivers" (110).
[like the Matrix] Asimov's
(among others) theme: humanity as
a bacteria developed by higher organism(s) for their use (pleasure,
entertainment) as we cultivate bacteria to our benefit (114). Humanity as
puppet [theological] (115).
ΚΚΚΚΚΚΚΚΚΚΚΚΚΚΚC. Commerce and
Exploitation
"Realistic" SF
involving old sins: "rapacity, guile, and an emptiness of sensibility ranging
from the silly to the inhuman."
Characteristic of genre in SF:
exploiters all powerful so government is impotent; ad agencies sometimes
more powerful than industrial czars;
humans as consumer either possess too much at the cost of "creativity,
vitality, and freedom" or is poverty stricken. Motiveless obsession with
power.
(116).
*Pohl
often deals with the greed of the huckster and the weakness and "vacuity of
consumer-man" (117). Some of his
work borders on horror: Man as
part of experment in advertising or manipulated into obsessive
consumerism. He makes ads and
their effects outrageous to show reader's vulnerability to them (117). Pohl
worked in advertising. He creates "mercantile
dytopias." He writes
satire. World resources are
reduced to nothing and the exploiters go to rape more planets. (118) His future
world "tie[s] in with every basic trauma and neuroses in American life today" (119). His protagonist is an
oblivious victim of the abuser of power in the system he functions in. He revels in a world of ever-increasing
production and consumption (119).
Ultimately the protagonist comes to his senses.
*Pohl
and Kornbluth create a novel in which over-commercialized U. S. is in a state
of moral collapse. (120) Pohl's work is in response to the over-production
following WWII.
*Damon
Knight also responds to the ears of the decades after WWII. Commercial conglomerates take over the
U. S. His work reflects tear Τthat
commerce, using … technology and …behavioral science, is a threat to human
liberty" (122).
*Silverberg
has ad agency prepare earthlings for extermination of the population of a
planet that the corporation wants to exploit. All this shows the "banality of evil" (122). Ordinary people unfeelingly ready to
exploit "others" (122).
Insensitivity of middle-class managers to those whose lives they trample
on (123). Silverberg's androids
are created by Krug t be used as objects.
But they think of selves as people (since they have minds and "hearts" (feelings)
and worship Krug and believe he will deliver them (126-7). Theological implications: Gods privileged to please only
themselves; however, they create people, with reasoning and feeling powers who
believe gods have a responsibility to save what they've created. Also humans as created are obliged to
serve gods, but given reason, they expect and demand salvation. (127).
In
Ira Levin's "The Stepford Wives" high
achieving and independent women are murdered by husbands who replace them
with androids they manufacture.
The Novel as a response to male resentment of women's lib (128-9). Theory of George Gilder: woman are naturally sexually superior:
they have "ongoing sexual authenticity".
Men compensate with social advantages, especially with respect to work
and money. Women's lib undermines
the "source of social continuity and order". Men respond by "becoming sexual predators, delinquents, homosexuals,
escapees, Machiavels, or whatever confirms their masculinity" (129). Result: everyone exploits everyone
else. Villain is egotism. Can be "insensitive egotism of
*consciencelessness…[or *according to Blish] ruthless egotism of conscience" (130). Blish and Asimov consider
the moral blindness of scientific exploitation that results from greed for $
and/or desire to maintain reputation and tradition (130).
*Blish
also writes of a highly intelligent, perfectly moral species of aliens so
threatening to Catholicism that they are exorcized into annihilation. (Or maybe scientist subjugated the
aliens to produce thermonuclear material) (132).
ΚΚΚΚΚΚΚΚΚΚΚΚΚΚΚD. The Revolt
of Youth
In
the mid to late 60s, SF dystopian novels have youth rebellion and its failure
as theme. The youth in them are
initially vacuous or succumb to the same moral evils as their ineffectual
elders. The "dominant fact" in the
novels and sociology of the "angry youth is that those shared values forming
the center have given way and that never before have they given was so quickly
and thoroughly" (142). In some
novels the end promises the restoration of the center but in others, including
one by Marge Percy) the two societies-young and old confront each other
indefinitely" (142)
ΚΚΚΚΚΚΚΚΚΚΚIII. Catastrophe
ΚΚΚΚΚΚΚΚΚΚΚΚΚΚΚA. Nuclear War
A
number of novels (incl On the Beach) use
atomic power and its potential misuse as themes. "A Canticle for Liebowitz" suggests that humanity
will
continue to return to war over and over. (151). Berger suggests scientific marvels of our age have "spawned
complication, frustration, and fear" (153). Miller's hero who saves not earth but a segment of humanity
is clerical (Catholic or Episcopal?) and anti-scientific. (154). Miller's Canticle is a pessimistic postscript to an earlier story when
people are to learn to use machines wisely and have the potential to do so.
(155)
ΚΚΚΚΚΚΚΚΚΚΚΚΚΚΚB. The
Population Explosion
*Ignored
in SF prior to the 60s.
(155). In 1967 James Blish
and Norman Knight write in response to scientific predictions about overpopulation. Resolution: Interstellar travel to relieve the earth. (156). Their warning is not against fertility but vs. "the erector-set mentality, whose nature is not respect, and humility, but …to welcome [problems] as
invitations to human resourcefulness or the spurs to some great destiny" (158). [Global warming!]
ΚΚΚΚΚΚΚΚΚΚΚΚΚΚΚC. Race War in
America
Berger suggests that race wars make easier SF than racial
harmony ((166).
ΚΚΚΚΚΚΚΚΚΚΚΚΚΚΚD. The
Obsessional Catastrophe (Prophetic of Biblical fundamentalism?)
Dystopian
lit deals with "obeisance to the gods, the search for certainty, the relief
from strain, the fear of death, the drive for knowledge, the will to dominate" in
their most extreme *forms where they overpower all else (176). Wouk deals with the obsession of war (177). On one level he satirizes this
obsession. On the other, he
satirizes the obsession to keep the obsession (180).
Another
novel deals with the fear of life–self-mutilating fear of the tendency
towards war. (181-2). That is, the
obsession of pacifism at all cost.
Huxley deals with the obsession of self-hating (182-3) and the worship
of "hatred," i.e. the devil.
Machine age as giving victory to the devil over God. (183). John Wyndham's novel deals with the
obsession to regain God's favor (184).
These
3 novels have obsessions that seem possible. Would provide possible accommodation to post-catastrophic
world.
*Clifford
Simak–his protag's obsessive drive for immortality "poisons the living
present" (185). Drive for and $
needed to research resurrecting dead make people live sterile, rigid,
puritanical lives. Religion and
science play opposite roles in his novel.
Science controls everything tyranically. Life becomes joyless even while immortality is sought. The result is an "obsessive, self-defeating
humanism" (187). Evelyn Waugh
deals with soft penology where sociopaths are treated to lovely accommodations
and no one is judged responsible for crimes (187).
*Damon
Knight possibly inspired by Waugh has psychopathic narrator free to act as he
will but never acknowledged.
Programmed to terrible sickness if he tries to commit violent acts. Both novels deal with obsessive or
overdone humanitarianism.
The
novels appear to respond to "faintheartedness disguising itself as magnanimity" (187). Respond to loss of ethical
absolutes in our time. 187
Possible so to authors' fears of the new "thing" coming which will
subtly and compellingly "repeal the past" (188).
*Silverberg
novel with religious cult that choose to drink amnesia-producing water to drown
sorrows. (188). Another
novel: religious belief: produce babies. Anyone against the system is thrown "down
the chute." Causes
over-population [but accommodated] of conformists who eschew "adventure, power,
and knowledge" and have no desire for property (189). Silverberg posits extremism may alter history (189). A different writer suggests human
civilization depends on creative individuals, not sociable majority (199). [Gore Vidal writes of a world with a
death-wish 190ff]
CONCLUSION
SF as "Nightmare world of the future" is
a genre. Sometimes it is called Futopia; Cacatopia; negative Utopia or Anti-utopia.
(199). Berger associates
and situates its growth with/in the development of nuclear arms, the draining
of humanity by technology, (199), government service of self and regimentation
of its people; psychology that discovers thing after thing about the human
psyche but still can't cure mental illness; and "the formulas, the instruments,
the progress, and the will, one fears [by natural and social scientists] to
change man into something other than man" (sic 200). H. G. Wells went from celebrating scientific advancement to
regretting it. "Dead is te dream
of the scientific Utopia" (200).
"Pure anti-utopian fiction not only describes abhorrent and warped
societies but ascribes their dystopian features to their utopian
programs." It shows dehumanized
people and or "perverted natural order."
Its authors manifest a crisis of confidence in humanity. (201). According to Berger, we need to figure
out what paths not to follow and
what actions not to take (202).
BLADERUNNER synopsis
Question: What
is human? Robots (Nexus 6) have
become more intelligent than their creators. Also, given implanted "memories" and feelings (?),
they
threaten to evolve. However, their
planned life span is only 4 years.
They have been coming to earth to have this effect reversed.
Harrison
Ford stars as a "bladerunner"–an agent of a special force whose
mission
is to seek out and kill the rebel robots.
He falls in love with a robot and escapes North with her (Canada? Oregon? Alaska?)